Crankbaits allow for a person to quick cover large areas of water with the lure, and crankbaits also allow for a person to fish at specific depth with the lure. The depth of a crankbait can change for a variety of different variables. For instance, the depth of the crankbait can change based off the speed at which a person retrieves the crankbait, the diameter of the fishing line, the distance at which a person cast the bait, and even the angle of the tip of the rod.
Strike King’s numbered series of crankbaits was created because bass do not remain in one depth in the water throughout the year. Therefore, having a series of crankbaits that can be adjusted to reach different depths in the water is more beneficial for anglers then having a variety of different types of bait altogether. The bill of the crankbait will determine the depth at which it dive into the water.
What Makes a Crankbait Go Deeper or Shallower
Short-billed crankbaits will remain in the high portion of the water column, but long-billed crankbaits will dive to the deeper portions of the water prior to the angler beginning to retrieve the bait. A longer bill will cause the lure to dive deeper into the water due to the angle of the bill of the bait. The buoyancy of the body of the crankbait will work to bring the crankbait to the surface, but the length of the bill will allow it to reach deeper into the water.
The speed at which an angler retrieves the crankbait will change the depth of the crankbait. If the angler increase the retrieve speed of the crankbait, the crankbait will remain in higher portions of the water column due to the pressure of the water against the bill of the crankbait. If the angler decreases the retrieve speed, the crankbait will move to deeper portions of the water.
Additionally, the distance at which a person cast the crankbait will also change the depth of the crankbait. If an angler casts the bait a longer distance from the area where the angler is standing, the crankbait will reach the maximum depth to which it can dive before the angler begins to retrieve it. Therefore, if an angler is attempting to fish the bottom of a channel ledge, an angler may use a longer cast to ensure that the crankbait reaches the bottom of that channel.
The diameter of the fishing line can also change the depth at which the crankbait fishes. If the fishing line is thinner, the crankbait is able to reach deeper portions of the water. Additionally, if a person uses fluorocarbon line instead of monofilament line, the crankbait will dive more effective into the water due to the additional weight of the fluorocarbon line.
Therefore, if a person finds that there crankbait is not fishing to the desired depth in the water, one of the variables that can be adjusted is the fishing line. The size of the hooks on the crankbait may also affect the depth of the crankbait. If a person uses larger hooks on a crankbait, the larger size of the hook can reduce the depth of the crankbait to some small amount.
Additionally, if a person uses smaller hooks than those manufactured on the crankbait, the reduced size of the hook will also reduce the depth of the crankbait. Most crankbaits has the factory-sized hooks installed on the lure, but the size of the hooks can also be changed to fine-tune the depth of the bait. The length of the rod and the action of the rod may also impact the depth of the crankbait.
For example, if anglers utilize longer rods with moderate actions, anglers are able to more efficient load the rod and release the tip of the rod during a sidearm cast of the bait. Additionally, using a sidearm cast will help to keep the crankbait moving forward and low to the water. The deeper into the water that the angler desires to fish with the crankbait, the more important it is to maximize the distance of each cast.
An angler must understand these different variables of a crankbait and be able to match those variables to the behavior of the bass. For example, during the early spring, when bass are active in shallow waters, the angler may want to use a fast retrieve rate of the crankbait and use a short billed crankbait to keep the bait in the strike zone of the bass. During the midsummer season, however, the bass may move to deeper waters, so in this case, an angler may want to implement a slower retrieve rate, a heavier fishing line, and a long billed crankbait to reach the bass that are present in these deeper waters.
While the bass may be caught using only a single crankbait, the angler must make adjustments to the retrieve rate of the bait, the distance at which it is cast, the type of fishing line that is used, or the length of the rod that is utilized to reach the bass to which the angler is targeting.